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Banner featuring Arabic calligraphy in dark blue ink above the words Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine written in burgundy ink.

Catalogue: Chemical Medicine - Gallery

Folio 1a featuring the opening of Sāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-Ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body). The stiff, cream paper has horizontal laid lines and single chain lines. The text is written in a somewhat awkward naskh script, using black ink with headings in red.

MS A 12, fol. 1a

Preliminary folio from Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-Ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body) featuring the illuminated headpiece which opens the treatise. The illuminated opening is executed in gilt with blue, light-green, white, and red opaque watercolors. The text on is written within a gilt and black border. The very glossy, pale biscuit paper has horizontal laid lines, single chain lines and watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small naskh tending toward ta‘liq script, using black ink.

MS A 13, prelim. fol. [5b]

Folio 172a from Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-Ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body) featuring the colophon. The illuminated opening is executed in gilt with blue, light-green, white, and red opaque watercolors. The text is written within a frame formed of a single red line that in turn is set within an outer frame of a single red line. Notes have been put in the margins between the lines. The very glossy, pale biscuit paper has horizontal laid lines, single chain lines and watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small naskh tending toward ta‘liq script, using black ink.

MS A 13, fol. 172a

Folio 1b of Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-Ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body) featuring the opening. The opaque, beige paper is matte-finished. The text is written in a medium-large North African Maghribi script, using dark-brown ink with headings in red and green. The text area has been frame-ruled, and the text is written within frames formed of one green and two red lines.

MS A 30, fol. 1b

Folio 91a of Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-Ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body) featuring the colophon. The opaque, beige paper is matte-finished. The text is written in a medium-large North African Maghribi script, using dark-brown ink with headings in red and green. The text area has been frame-ruled, and the text is written within frames formed of one green and two red lines.

MS A 30, fol. 91a

The lower cover and flap of MS A 30 which is an 18th or 19th century Persian/Turkish cover and has a large scalloped mandorla panel stamp and two pendants. The inner panels are filled with intertwined cloudbands, ribbons, flowers, and vines, while the blind-stamped devices are framed by blind-tooled borders of simple fillets. The envelope flap attached to the lower cover has a blind-stamped device identical to one of the pendants on the covers.

MS A 30, binding
(lower cover and envelope flap)

Folio 1b from Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus). The pale beige paper has very fine horizontal laid lines, prominent single chain lines, and small watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small, compact, very careful naskh script using dense black ink with headings in red and text stops of red dots.

MS A 78, fol. 1b

Folio 80a from Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus) featuring the colophon. The pale beige paper has very fine horizontal laid lines, prominent single chain lines, and small watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small, compact, very careful naskh script using dense black ink with headings in red and text stops of red dots.

MS A 78, fol. 80a

The lower cover and flap of MS A 78 which is a Persian/Turkish binding of the 18th or 19th century has a scalloped mandorla panel stamp with two pendants in the center of each cover. The inner fields of these blind-stamped devices have twisted and tied cloud-ribbon forms with a vine network studded with small flowers and buds. At the very center of the field there appears to be the word 'Ḥasan', the maker's name. A scalloped round medallion is blind-stamped on the envelope flap. Both flap and cover are framed with blind-tooled borders of simple fillets either side of a row of dots.

MS A 78, binding
(lower cover and envelope flap)

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